*Fwet*

A large blue arrow parted the air before striking the oversized fowl. The bird shrieked before breathing its last.

Kade trotted over with a large grin. If he had to judge beasts by how easily he could kill them, birds were near the top. They were fast with nearly unmatchable mobility, but they had very predictable attack patterns.

All it took was freezing one of their wings and they would plummet to the ground. They didn't have much in the way of defenses, so one or two well-placed spells would usually take their lives.

While easy beast cores were the main reason he loved bird beasts, their meat was another. They tasted too good. Honestly, birds were just amazing. Well, dead birds, specifically.

However, for as much as Kade loved encountering these beasts, Obruo hated them. How was he supposed to contribute to killing something that could fly?!

He whined incessantly while watching Kade extract the beast core. That core should be his! It had been too long since he tasted that irresistible energy!

"Tk." Kade clicked his tongue while giving Obruo a sidelong glance "Don't give me that look. We need the money." He said as he dropped the beast core into his bag.

Peeking inside, there were now seven cores. He had already taken down three birds in two days, and the day was still early. It would be amazing if this speed could be maintained, but he knew good and well that was just a pipe dream.

There were only so many bird beasts in this area, and it wasn't like he knew where to find more. Once he reaped all of the cores here, he would be forced to target a more difficult game. Beasts that he couldn't kill with two spells.

Not to mention, though these birds hadn't posed a threat so far, they were still beasts and this was Detrius. In life, there was a rule that everyone should keep in mind.

Murphy's law. Anything that can go wrong, will.

This truth helped curb his arrogance from easy pickings. No matter how strong he became there would still be things beyond his control. So, the best course of action was to prepare so that he could react in the best way possible when everything went to shit.

That was why he didn't rush. He needed to fix his weaknesses first so that even if he couldn't win the fight, he could escape with his life.

So, with a sigh, he pulled his notebook out of his bag and flipped it open as he walked. The days were growing repetitive and boring. Walk, study, and practice. Looking back, it was the same on his last trip.

'I guess this is what it means to be a cultivator...' He thought. No level of strength would ever be enough. This path was endless. The only question was, is it worth it? Time would tell.

A few moments later, he snapped the book shut and tossed it into his bag before rousing his Altaris and forming a spell trace. A strong gust of wind burst from his back, launching him diagonally into the air. He cast the spell from his left, pushing his body to the right. Then again from his right foot.

He lost balance, his body tumbling in the air at a high speed. He straightened his arm and cast the spell again, counteracting the spin before forming a spell trace at his chest and casting the spell once more to slow himself.

He landed roughly, rolling forward to absorb his momentum and spring to his feet. He shook his head before running his hand through his hair. The spell provided enough propulsion and was simple enough to cast quickly and effortlessly.

The issue was his control. As it was, he couldn't adjust the intensity of the propulsion which made it hard to make small adjustments. Another issue was that he couldn't dual-cast. This made it difficult to balance when casting the spell from his limbs. Dual casting was still out of his reach, but tweaking the spell to allow for intensity adjustment was possible.

"Almost finished, then we can let loose." Kade mumbled as he brushed the dirt from his clothes.

...

*Crack*

Kade's head snapped to the right as his face scrunched. Loud rustling followed the crack, along with weird hissing. Something was causing quite the commotion.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Kade made his way over cautiously. After only tens of meters, he heard human voices mix in with the chaos.

"I've got it!"

"Run!"

Kade raised a brow while continuing forward. The situation was giving him a weird feeling, but that just served to increase his curiosity. With every step, the sounds grew closer, but they were growing far louder than they should be.

'Damn-' He thought as a young man ran out of the bushes in front of him. Without hesitation, he turned on his heels and began running in the opposite direction.

"The hell did you piss off?!" Kade yelled while glancing at the youth beside him.

"Go go go!" Another voice shouted from behind.

"A lizard!" The youth shouted back.

"How many?" Kade asked.

The raucous was gaining on them. Clearly, this youths group couldn't handle whatever was chasing them, and now he was caught up in this mess too. Though he could likely escape if he split off, his conscience would make doing so difficult after having seen a kid in danger.

"One." The youth replied with heavy breaths.

"Alright, then we fight, but I get the core!" Kade said, having made up his mind.

"It's too strong, we can't handle it!" The youth shouted back frantically.

"Just help me when I need it." Kade shouted back as a spell trace formed at his back.

leaning back, he was launched into the air. After a few seconds of propulsion, he reached out an arm and caught a branch before swinging around and planting his feet on top of it. He turned as a translucent ball appeared over his hand.

Glancing through the trees, he finally spotted the youths teammates running from a huge lizard the size of a Jon boat. They were moving fast and would be in range in a few seconds.

Taking a deep breath, he anticipated the lizard's path and extended his arm before launching the spell. The moment the ball left his hand, another spell trace began forming.

The ball struck the lizard, causing chains to wrap around it. The beast tripped and slid across the ground before being locked in place by the chains piercing the ground.

"Turn on it now!" Kade shouted before launching an arrow toward the beast's head.

"What the hell?" One of the youths shouted in surprise as he turned his head toward the lizard.

However, he wasn't the quickest. The oldest of the bunch had already turned his body and was sprinting toward the beast with his hand axe raised.

An arrow wooshed past him and buried itself in the cheek of the lizard. He followed up by bringing the axe head down on the beast's head. Unfortunately, while its body was bound, its head was still free to move.

Seeing the sharp edge, the lizard lifted its head and opened its mouth before clamping it shut on the descending axe head. The young man pulled back on the axe while lifting his other arm, another axe in his other hand. He swung down with his second axe, striking the skull of the lizard and leaving a deep gash.

The lizard thrashed violently, causing the young man to release his axe and retreat a step in caution. It spat the axe out, exposing the corroded metal head as it clattered against a stone. Its throat flexed as it widened its jaws, launching a ball of phlegm toward the young man.

The young man's eyes widened as he crossed his arms in front of his face, but the pain from the acidic mucus was never felt. The Phlegm struck a large blue translucent breastplate, created by aegis, and splattered across it before the breastplate dissipated.

"Back off, I'm gonna roast it." Kade shouted as he prepared his next spell.

It was another translucent ball. He knew his Spirit Chains would break soon as he hadn't used much Altaris. This time, he pumped in twice as much while waiting for the moment to cast. He couldn't stack the spell or it would result in slack when the first set dissipated.

The Lizard flexed its throat once again.

"Dodge!" Kade shouted. Aegis took a few seconds to cast and he was already preparing another Spirit Chains, so he couldn't protect the young man again.

However, something unexpected happened. The lizard turned its mouth toward him and launched the phlegm.

"Shi-" Kade shouted as he cast the spell and jumped off the branch.

*Pshhhhh*

A burst of air blasted him to the left, causing the phlegm to miss him by a hair's breadth. Flaring his nostrils in anger, he twisted his torso before another gust of air propelled him toward the lizard. He flew through the air with another spell trace at his fingertips, forming a cylinder.

The lizard felt the restriction binding it loosen and spread its legs while pushing its body off the ground. It lunged to meet the human flying through the air, but it stumbled as its limbs were caught on loose chains.

Kade smirked as he raised his arm and brought it down on the lizard with a huge amount of momentum. The spear in his hand-- formed from the armament spell --penetrated in the nape of the lizard before coming out of the other side and plunging into the dirt beneath.

Kade curled up as he hit the ground, sending himself into a roll, and used the momentum to spring to his feet. Turning, he faced the lizard and roused his Altaris, causing a white fire to sprout in his hand.

The beast kept its gaze on him and endured the pain radiating from its throat. It did its best to extricate itself from the chains while opening its maw at Kade once again. Unfortunately for it, its jaw was slammed shut when a heavy force struck it from above.

The young man lifted his axe again while slamming his left foot onto the lizard's head and pressing it into the ground. He struck down again, and again, and again.

Kade watched blood splatter as the young man hacked at the beast's neck behind his spear. He held the growing fireball in his hand with a raised brow until the lizard fell to the ground.

'Brutal...' He thought while looking at the scene. A young man stood covered in blood, a huge lizard head at his feet. It was a sight straight out of a horror movie.

"Haah. Thanks for your help." The young man said between heavy breaths

"No problem." Kade replied before dispelling the fireball in his hands "But my help isn't free. I'll be taking the beast core."

"That's fair." The young man nodded before turning back "Cal, where are you?" He shouted.

"I'm here." the youth from before shouted before appearing a few seconds later.

Kade observed the group. There were five in total, and all of them looked pretty young. The youngest, Cal, was carrying what appeared to be a big ass egg in his arms. The rest gathered around the youngest and gazed at the egg greedily.

"You guys risked your lives for an egg?" Kade asked skeptically while walking to the lizard and pulling out his knife.

The oldest, the one that had beheaded the lizard, turned to him and spoke "Yeah, though risking our lives wasn't the plan. The lizard was stronger than we expected."

"Hm." Kade nodded while cutting into the lizard "Angering a beast for an egg... You guys must be hungry." He joked.

"We aren't gonna eat it, stupid." Cal retorted with a scornful expression "This thing is worth a lot."

Kade stopped his actions while turning toward them with a raised brow "It's worth more than a beast core?"

"Probably." One of the others chimed in, a lithe youth. "It depends on the beast's strength and attributes. Since the lizard was so strong and has that acid spit, it should sell for a good bit."

"Ah." Kade nodded before returning to his work "Are you sure you can get it back to Earth intact?"

"No, but it's worth trying." The oldest replied.

Kade pulled a core from the lizard before shaking his head at them "Don't value that egg too highly. Your lives are more important."

That was the problem with fragile loot like the egg. If you had to protect it constantly, then you would be at greater risk. Just because something would sell for a lot, didn't mean it was worth bringing with you.

The young man nodded "I'm Jay, by the way."

Kade chuckled as he cleaned the blood off the core and tossed it in his belt pouch "I'm Kardis." His demeanor grew serious as he looked between them "How old are you guys?"

"I'm 19." Jay replied.

"I'm Trey, 18." A tall, chunky young man said.

"Walter, 18." This time it was an athletic young man.

"I'm Ben, and I'm 17." The lithe young man replied.

"I'm Cal, Jay's younger brother. I'm 15." The shorty holding the egg said.

Kade frowned with furrowed brows "The guards let you come to Detrius at 15?"

They were all so young. 18-year-olds he could understand, they were adults by society's standards and it wasn't surprising that they were allowed to become champions and come to detrius. However, he hadn't expected anyone below 18 to be allowed to come somewhere this dangerous.

"Anyone above the age of 16 with Altaris can come to Detrius. Kids under 16 can come if accompanied by a guardian." Ben spoke up.

Kade's frown grew as he turned to Jay "I'm guessing you're his guardian then?"

Jay nodded, intending to reply, but was cut off.

"Why the hell did you bring him to Detrius?" Kade couldn't help but raise his voice. Older brothers were supposed to protect their siblings, not bring them into harm's way.

Jay frowned "To keep him by my side. We do everything together, and this way I can protect him, not that it's any of your fuckin' business."

"Keep him safe? You can't even keep yourself safe out here. If I hadn't shown up, you'd be lizard shit by now." Kade growled as he stepped to Jay "This isn't a game, kid. Whatever way you use to justify your reasons, bringing your kid brother to Detrius was a stupid move. Take him home."

Jay shoved Kade as his face warped to display anger "What the hell do you know? You don't know us! You don't know the shit we have to endure back there. At least here, we can run and hide."

Kade's brows tightened. He had overstepped his bounds. The kid was right, he didn't know what they went through, but he did know how harsh life could be. If this opportunity had presented itself when he was 17 or 18, he might have taken Jones and the others straight to Detrius too.

He couldn't keep rebuking Jay, doing so would be hypocritical. However, the fact that Detrius was extremely dangerous remained. This wasn't a place that arrogant, prideful teens could run buck wild without consequences.

"Yeah, you're right." Kade replied after sighing "Things might be rough for you guys at home, but Detrius might not be any better. Coming here is a gamble with your life as the bet, but you're not just gambling your own life. If you lose, you'll lose big. Be prepared for it."

Jay glared at him as he scoffed and waved his hand "It doesn't seem that dangerous so far. We can handle ourselves."

"Yeah, Why are you even lecturing us like you're our elder?" Trey chimed in with a frown.

Kade raised his brow as he glanced toward the young man. He wasn't wrong, Kade was only a few years older than them, but wisdom didn't just come with age. It came with experience, and there was no doubt that he had far more experience than these kids. His years had been spent in combat. He had seen death first hand. Comrades, friends, women, and children. Fathers' and Brothers' trying to defend their beliefs.

He knew the consequences of arrogance and recklessness, so he felt that he had the right to lecture them. Then again, it's not like they could understand the weight of his words when they had never experienced what he was trying to explain. Besides, he was just a stranger. Why should they take his words to heart?

A small grin sprouted on his face as a spell trace formed over his palm. Less than a second later a bright light flashed causing the youths-- who were all focused on Kade -- to recoil while covering their eyes.

Lashing out with a kick, Jay was sent stumbling backward. Right after, vines sprouted and entangled Trey.

Ben was the first to recover and watched through blurry eyes as Kade darted toward Cal before grabbing the youth's shoulder while kicking at his leg. Cal's leg buckled, forcing him to kneel as Kade spun around him with Altaris shrouding his hand.

By the time the others had collected themselves, a blue sword composed of Altaris was resting against Cal's neck.

"You sonuva bitch" Jay screamed as he postured to charge, nostrils flared.

"Tk, tk." Kade clicked his tongue while pressing the sword into Cal's neck. "Careful now, don't do something that you'll regret."

Jay halted, his body tensing. His eyes darted from one person to the next frantically, hoping to find a way out of their situation.

Kade calmly observed the young men in front of him before whistling "Whew, who could have expected this, am I right?"

Seeing the rapidly changing expressions of the young men was a form of vindication for Kade. They needed to realize that Detrius, and being a champion, wasn't a game. Clearly, words didn't work, so he had to resort to more drastic methods.

"He's bluffing. He wouldn't have helped us with the lizard if he wanted to hurt us." Walter claimed with a calm expression.

Kade raised a brow as a malicious grin sprouted "That so?" He pulled his arm to the right, resulting in a trickle of blood flowing down Cal's neck.